331: What is Up With Theranos?

The promise of a simple blood test that only required a few drops of blood, but would accurately give the result of hundreds of blood test was too good to pass up on. It allowed Theranos to raise hundreds of millions of dollars and achieve a valuation of billions of dollars. Only problem: their tech doesn’t exist and never did. Now that the SEC has gotten involved, we figured we’d finally give our opinion on the whole ordeal.

What is Up With Theranos? Show Notes

1. The fundamental falsehood: Theranos’s blood-testing technology simply didn’t do what the company repeatedly told investors, clients, and the media it could, the SEC alleged.
2. Theranos gave fake demonstrations when it was striking deals with one of its major clients, Walgreens
3. Theranos also gave investors fake demonstrations and misleading information about its clinical trials.
4. Holmes lied about Theranos’s military contracts.
5. Theranos said it was going to make $100 million in a year when it made about $100,000.
6. Holmes said that Theranos didn’t need to get FDA approval. It did.
7. Theranos pumped its false claims up to the media.